Cuban Journalism on the Internet -- an overview

The Knight Center at the University of Texas, which studies journalism in the Americas, has published a long blog post on new Cuban journalism on the Internet. The post surveys Cuban media and profiles a number of outlets, categorized as follows.

State media controlled by the Communist Party: the newspaper Granma, Web sites Cuba Debate and Juventud Rebelde, Televisión Cubana and the radio stations Radio Rebelde, Radio Reloj and Radio Taíno.

Non-state media on the Internet, which are not opposed to the system -- criticizing the leadership, but relatively in favor of socialism: Periodismo de Barrio, El Estornudo and Cachivache.

Non-state media on the Internet, which are opposed to the system and want an end to socialism: 14ymedio, Martí Noticias and Damas de Blanco.

Foreign press: ccorrespondents of Reuters, Russia Today, The Associated Press (AP), Agencia EFE, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and dozens of other international mainstream media.

The Center also holds an annual International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), and Yoani Sánchez was a keynote speaker this year. She spoke of the technical and legal constraints faced by her publication 14Ymedio and some of their workarounds. For example, since journalist is not one of the occupations approved for self-employment in Cuba, they have registered their writers a typists. For more on her talk click here and here.

Yoani Sánchez (r) during her ISOJ 2016 presentation. Photo: Mary Kang, Knight Center

The Internet press hypes Cuban WiFi access

Poster with WiFi announcement at the Technology Center (14ymedio)

While I was on vacation it was widely reported that ETECSA would be providing megabyte (megabit?) per second WiFi Internet access in Santiago de Cuba for $4.50 per hour. ETECSA subsequently issued a clarification, saying they would be providing WiFi access to the Cuban intranet at no cost.

The initial reports were all based on a 3-sentence post on the Web site of the Cuban Journalist's Union.

The rapid spread of this semi-correct story is a product of click-hungry Internet "journalism" -- contrast that with the reporting a few days later by Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on the 14ymedio site. (English translation).

The initial reporting was not only opportunistic -- Cuba has been in the news lately -- it was uncritical. One would expect the Internet Press to recognize that a few WiFi access points with 1 megabyte per second back-haul speed at a cost of $4.50 per hour is neither Big News nor the sign of a major shift in Cuban Internet policy.

This is the same fallacy as in the sad case of Alan Gross. Gross was convicted of bringing equipment into Cuba that, had he succeeded, would have made no significant difference. That project cost the American tax payers millions of dollars and provided the Cuban government with a propaganda "threat" that it has grossly overstated.

Yoani Sánchez' digital newspaper, 14ymedio, is online

The daily Web newspaper 14ymedio looks like a fully traditional digital "newspaper" with news, sports, culture, opinion, fashion tips, weather, etc.

The 14ymedio "declaration of intentions" says the team is committed to promoting truth, freedom and human rights, without ideological or partisan ties -- they hope to provide a space for respectful debate and to contribute to the peaceful transition to democracy. A group of 28 writers and intellectuals, including Mario Vargas Llosa and Lech Walesa, signed a request that the Cuban government respect 14ymedio and allow it to exist with free expression.

Evidently some pro-government people were not happy with the launch of 14ymedio -- the Cuban domain name server was hacked, and Cubans looking for 14ymedio.com were automatically redirected to a pro-government Web site. Doug Madory of Renesys reported that the hack was local to Cuba and the site was visible in foreign nations. Madory speculated that the hack had been done by someone inside ETECSA.

Today, relatively few people on the island can afford to access 14ymedio online, but stripped down PDF and text versions are available. For the first issue, they were quite minimal -- hopefully they will improve -- becoming something like the daily New York Times Digest. It could also be included on flash drives that are regularly distributed on the island. Regardless, I hope the hack was a rogue action and the paper turns out to be the impartial forum envisioned by the founders.